Beautiful Hearts & Strong Minds
Karen’s philosophy in life and in teaching music is inspired by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. In her studio, playing an instrument is actually not the most important thing: music lessons exist for the development of children to live with noble, beautiful, and kind hearts. In pursuit of developing beautiful hearts, she has found that music also develops a strong mind. Those two things together are a powerful combination. Karen has seen her students evolve from apprehensive to adventurous, disorderly to disciplined, and from passive to passionate. When asked why she chooses to teach music, the answer is always quite simple: because musical children become better human beings.
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Teaching music is not my main purpose… If children hear fine music from the day of their birth and learn to play it, they develop sensitivity, discipline and endurance. They get a beautiful heart."
/ Dr. Suzuki, 1983 /
Good teaching matters for effective learning. Karen’s concept of good teaching is that students reach a place of learning that they would not have reached on their own. In other words, it is collaboration mixed with transformation. Good teaching means the teacher acts as a guide but transfers the ownership to the student, and ownership is an important construct in long-term wellbeing and motivation.
Karen has shaped this concept because she knows the transformative power of good teaching: the professors who saw what she was capable of and who pushed her farther than she would have gone on her own. They were the teachers who believed in her, and as such, she believes in her students. Good teachers have a vision of their students as accomplished learners. They assess where the student is at that moment and how to guide them forward towards excellence. That combination of vision and guidance is what she aims to achieve in her daily teaching.
Calgary Opera Field Trip, May 2019
Canada 150 Recital at Steinway Piano Gallery, June 2018
A Vibrant Musical Community
Karen believes that music is best when shared and she emphasizes building a vibrant musical community within her studio. In addition to weekly individual lessons, studio events include piano parties, field trips to Calgary Philharmonic or Calgary Opera, masterclasses, two annual recitals, and ARMTA’s Music Marathon. Many students also choose to be involved in RCM or Conservatory Canada exams, Contemporary Showcase, and the Calgary Performing Arts Festival.
The overarching goal is not necessarily to become a professional musician. The goal is to develop an identity as a musician, and have children use the term ‘musician’ to describe who they are. It means that Karen operates more of music-immersion program where music holds a meaningful place in children’s lives now and into adulthood. From her experience, students in an immersive musical environment are the ones who enjoy the lifelong benefit from being involved in the activity. This does not necessarily mean that they will play at Carnegie Hall, but it does mean that they will have built up enough ability over the years to maintain some of it throughout their entire life. It means that lessons have a much deeper purpose.
